Make a pitch, win money to report a story in Pittsburgh

Journalists pitch story ideas to their editors all the time, but what if they had to make their case directly to the people who would be reading, watching, and listening?  

The Pittsburgh Pitch, Friday Sept. 27, gives you, the audience, a direct say in what stories receive funding. Journalists will pitch their ideas from the stage of The Pittsburgh Playhouse. A celebrity editorial board will offer feedback. And at a party immediately after, people in the seats will decide which stories to fund.  

We tried this concept once before and it not only was nerve-wracking for the journalists but engaging for the audience – and ultimately fun for everyone. We ended up giving $1,000 each to three journalists to produce original stories that otherwise might never have been told.  

“I felt like an auctioneer selling my story to the crowd, compounding as much information as I could into a one-minute pitch,” said Alyse Horn, the first-place winner, who edits at Storyburgh. “It pushed me out of my comfort zone and helped me grow as a writer.”

Horn said competing in and winning the Pitch as a freelance journalist was a “validating experience.” She produced a story about Pennsylvania’s new cannabis-growing industry and how the legislature made it nearly impossible for small farmers to get involved.  

We hosted the original Pittsburgh Pitch in 2018 by working with 100 Days in Appalachia, a nonprofit newsroom that was incubated at West Virginia University’s Media Innovation Center. Ten journalists proposed story ideas to a room full of people who had each paid $10 to attend, with all their money going directly to the winning pitch. Local businesses donated beer and pepperoni rolls.  

“That was always an important piece of The Pittsburgh Pitch for me – people physically coming together to have fun and cheer and have a drink and be social,” said Jake Lynch, an Australia-based writer who created the concept for the Pitch while working for 100 Days in Appalachia.  

“Of all the things local journalism does bloody well, ‘fun’ probably isn't a natural strength! I think anytime we can make supporting local journalism a fun, social, entertaining thing to do, the more people we will attract to the cause.”

The event went so well – and the journalists’ pitches were so strong – that the CMI and 100 Days each threw in an additional $1,000 to fund two more projects.  

Journalists at The Incline, a now-defunct daily newsroom in Pittsburgh, wanted to report on food deserts, or places in the city where residents lacked easy access to fresh food options. They produced a series of stories called Fresh Divide highlighting that 20 percent of city residents had to choose between buying food, if they could find it, and other expenses.  

“Receiving funding from the Pittsburgh Pitch in 2018 enabled our small, scrappy team at The Incline to take on a major reporting project that we'd only dreamed of prior to receiving funding,” said Rossilynne Skena Culgan, who was a reporter at the outlet then.  

The prize money allowed them to assign three reporters and an editor (their entire staff) to tell stories from the Hilltop, Homewood, and Clairton, each article combining Pittsburghers' lived experiences with data-driven reporting.

"Pitching the story concept in front of a live audience was intimidating, but seeing the audience's support buoyed us through the challenging reporting process,” said Rossilyne Skena Culgan.

Skena Culgan now works as the things to do editor at Time Out New York.  

Freelance journalist Neil Strebig took a meta approach to the Pittsburgh Pitch by proposing a story about the very thing motivating us to host the event: the decline of local journalism. His story looked at how disruption to the traditional news model puts journalists out of work and threatens the viability of local reporting.  

“Being part of the inaugural Pittsburgh Pitch remains one of the proudest moments in my career,” said Strebig, who now works as a business/economic development reporter for The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn.  

“It's an event that celebrates the curiosity and intrepidness we all share as journalists and rewards those journalists brave enough to go after it. Participating in the Pittsburgh Pitch and the story I produced as a result of it, are two of the most rewarding experiences in my career.” 

To participate in the Pittsburgh Pitch, fill out this form. There are categories for the professionals, the public, and students. The Pitch is part of Newsapalooza, a celebration of local news. Purchase tickets through the Pittsburgh Playhouse.

For the latest updates, visit nextgenerationnewsroom.org.